Q&A with Catriona Smart:
- Tell us about the company and when was it founded and why? Tell us what you were doing before.
I founded That Good in January of 2023 – and this is crazy – we are not even formally launched yet and the reaction and support we have recieved is wild! I am honestly just so grateful and excited. That Good is a few things but primarily it is a professional services organization that provides our clients with brand strategy, event execution and design and talent management services. It also will be home to my new podcast – Good Talk which will launch in June as well as the incubator for our philianthopic arm – Do Good.
At That Good, we believe that work can be good, and that hard work not only ignites passion but can be a breeding g round for inspiration. That giving back is just as important as getting it done and doing both is where the joy lives. That Good aims to achieve excellence for our clients without a heavy hand but with an exacting confidence that allows for the goodness to flow. We are artists of authenticity. We are architects of a good time. We are creators of our client’s dreams and the authors of their imagination. Why us? Because. We are just – THAT GOOD
2. Can you share some challenges you faced when you started the business? How did you prepare yourself?
I feel like I have been preparing for this business since the beginning of my career – I just didn’t know it yet! I have always been entreprenurial and have had six sucessful companies, but this one just feels special – like all my years of experience and growth have led me to That Good and I am fully ready to step into my power on this one. So I guess you could say my preparation was 25 years of hard work!
3. How big is your team? What do you look for when you build your team?
We are a team of six at the moment and I fully expect it will grow – I am just not in a rush. I look for the same qualities in a team that I look for in my cohort – Talent, Integrity, Determination and Hustle. Top those off with a healthy does of kindness and you have my people.
4. How important is diversity to you and why?
It is everything. As a black woman who has come up in this world seeing herself overlooked and underpresented it is critcal for me to lift up my community and hold space for people of colour – especially women.
5. Why is it important to support female entrepreneurs, especially fellow Canadian ones?
It’s quite simple – if we don’t who will? Seriously, if we don’t support our peers at home how can we expect to thrive as a group? The answer is we cannot. It is critcal to honour our roots here at home and support each other. I am a big fan of healthy comeptitiona and a bigger fan of winning but I cannot find one good reason why we all cannot root each other on and help each other out – those are the basic tenents of community and community is all there is in the end.
6. Can you share with us some of your biggest achievements as an entrepreneur?
I am very proud to say that is a long list but the theme that jumps out to me immediately is that even though the days have been long, the wins wonderful and losses painful – I remain a great friend, a solid partner and an even better mother to my daughter.
7. Your advice to women thinking of owning their business, what are some of the top priorities to make sure you are off to the right start?
I will keep this answer short and sweet – be business literate. Understand money, trust your gut and have a great lawyer.
